I. Wrong Relationship of Wives to
Husbands and of Husbands to Wives Hinders Prayer

In the matter of hindered prayer, we ought to begin where God begins. In
First Peter 3:7, the Lord says, "... that your prayers be not hindered."
Speaking first of the sins of a rebellious wife that hurts her prayers, He
discusses that in detail. And then the Scripture speaks of the sins of a husband
who does not take his proper, God-appointed place in relation to the wife, and
warns both wife and husband that they are to obey God in this matter, "that your
prayers be not hindered."

Will you read prayerfully these seven remarkable verses, which may show why
God does not hear your prayer?

"Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any
obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of
the wives; while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. Whose
adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of
wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of
the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and
quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. For after this manner
in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves,
being in subjection unto their own husbands: even as Sara obeyed Abraham,
calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not
afraid with any amazement. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to
knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being
heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered" (I Pet
3:1-7).

Here God speaks to the wife about her duty to the husband. And in the matter
of getting your prayers answered, it does not matter, says the Lord, what kind
of husband you have; you must obey him, you must be subject to him. A woman must
be subject to her husband, or her prayers are hindered. He may even be an
unsaved man, one who will not obey the Word of God, who will not listen to the
Bible, will not attend church; and yet a Christian woman is to be subject to
such a husband, says the above Scripture, that her prayers be not hindered.

It is even inferred that the wife's prayer for the salvation of her husband
may be blocked by her own disobedience. A woman may seek to use her influence
with her husband by adorning her body, by the plaiting of her hair, by the
wearing of gold, or by her neat and attractive dress; but the Lord here says
that these things are not to be the beauty, the adornment, the attraction of a
Christian woman. And they will not win her husband; they will not get her
prayers answered. Rather, every Christian woman is to have that "ornament of a
meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price" (verse 4).
It is not wrong to plait the hair, or wear clothes; but the only ornament to win
a husband for God is the ornament that will cause God to answer prayers, the
ornament of a meek, obedient spirit.

In this matter, Sarah, the wife of Abraham, is held up as an example. She
called Abraham lord, as she obeyed him. And God gave Sarah a baby when she was
ninety years old, wonderfully answering her prayers. And so, argues the Word of
God, Christian women, if their prayers are not to be hindered, must be subject
to their husbands.

Many a Christian woman has wept as she told me how earnestly she prayed, how
diligently she attended the house of God, how eagerly she did church work, and
God seemed not to hear her prayers about an unsaved husband or son or daughter!
It is a remarkable fact that in nearly every congregation of Christians are
godly women, women who pray, who read their bibles, who live lives more or less
separated from worldliness in general, and yet who cannot get their prayers
answered for the conversion of their loved ones. "Why? Why?" the cry comes. The
answer is not found in the public church services. The answer is not found if
you watch such good women singing in the choir, teaching in the Sunday School,
attending bible conferences, giving money to the poor. No, no! Our sins and
hindered prayer are primarily home-sins. The sins of Christians which hinder
their prayers and stop Heaven, and shut the ears of God and grieve Him till He
turns His dear face away from His own born-again children, are not most often
the sins of the tavern, nor of the dance floor, nor of the theater. They are not
the public sins so much as the private sins. They are not the sins in the church
so much as in the homes!

You remember Achan and the wedge of gold and the two hundred shekels of
silver and the Babylonish garment which he stole - treasures dedicated to God.
When the curse of God was pronounced upon all Israel, Achan finally admitted,
"They are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it"
(Josh. 7:21). Achan's sin was not a public sin. Others never dreamed of it. It
was a home-sin.

And, dear wife who reads this, if you are guilty of this horrible sin of
rebellion against the one whom you took with solemn vows as your husband, to
honor, love and obey, then that sin today hinders your prayers! That rebellion
is the secret of why God has turned away His face and many of your prayers go
unanswered.

Rebellion is the sin of fallen angels. Rebellion is the sin which damns every
Christ-rejecting sinner. Rebellion against authority is the heart of all crime,
and every criminal in a penitentiary has been guilty first not of murder, nor of
theft, but has been guilty first of rebellion against authority. This was the
sin of the prodigal boy. Rebellion is the very heart of all sin. Dear Christian
wife, God says to you that if you will not be subject to your husband that your
prayers are hindered.

I dared not use this Scripture without an honest interpretation of it. The
meaning surely is clear. Rebellious wives have their prayers hindered.

And again, He says, "Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to
knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being
heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered."
Husbands, too, have their prayers hindered if they do not deal Scripturally with
their wives.

Husbands are (1) to dwell with their wives "according to knowledge," that is,
based on an understanding of the Scriptures relating to husband and wife. (2)
"Giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel," and (3) "as being
heirs together of the grace of life." Husbands, then, should take the place
accorded them in the Scriptures as heads of the home, high priests unto God,
responsible for the home and for the children, like Joshua, who said, "As for me
and my house, we will serve the Lord," for "the husband is the head of the wife,
even as Christ is the head of the church" (Eph. 5:23). Husbands are to "rule
over" their wives (Gen. 3:16). A husband who does not dwell with his wife
according to knowledge of the plain command of Scripture is likely to have his
prayers go unanswered, hindered.

A husband is to remember that he is stronger than his wife. His life should
be an example to his wife. The husband should be able to explain the Scriptures
to his wife (I Cor. 14:35). The heavy responsibilities of earning a living, of
disciplining children, winning the family to Christ, of religious instruction in
the home and the family - these heaviest burdens ought to fall heaviest on the
husband's shoulders. The man who shirks and avoids such responsibilities,
leaving them for the weaker partner, sins before God and will have his prayers
hindered.

And the husband should feel himself as one with his wife, one flesh. "No man
ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherished it" (Eph. 5:29). The
husband is to love the wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it.

And this general surrender to God's pattern for the place of the husband in
the home is essential to the full, happy life of daily answered prayer. The
slacker husband will find that his prayers are hindered.

Discord in the home grieves God. And if there be children that rebel against
parents, let them know that such rebellion turns away the face of God and stops
His ears and hinders their prayers.

If an old-time revival of Bible Christianity can be had in the homes, how
blessed, how far reaching will be the results! Heartfelt surrender to the will
of God and obedience to His plan in the home is more important than any kind of
public worship or any duties of citizenship. The hindrances to prayer are often
in the relations of wives and husbands and of children and parents in the home.